What a personal care attorney does
Your personal care and welfare attorney makes decisions about your health and daily life when you can't. This includes:
- Consenting to or refusing medical treatment
- Deciding where you live, including rest home care
- Decisions about your daily routine and care
- Managing relationships and social contact
Important limitation
Your personal care attorney cannot refuse consent to standard medical treatment to save your life or prevent serious damage to your health. They also cannot consent to electro-convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, or medical experiments.
Different from your property attorney
The skills needed for personal care decisions are different from financial management. You might choose:
- Someone who knows you well and understands your values
- A family member who will be emotionally invested in your wellbeing
- Someone who can advocate firmly with medical professionals
"Personal care decisions can be the hardest ones. Choose someone who will make the decisions you would make, not necessarily the ones they would make for themselves."
Many people choose the same person for both roles, but it's not required. Someone might be excellent with finances but not the right person to make care decisions, or vice versa.
Only one at a time
Unlike property EPAs, you can only have one personal care attorney acting at a time. You can name successors who step in if the first can't act, but there's no joint arrangement for care decisions. This avoids conflicts about your care.
Having the conversation
Before naming someone, talk to them. They need to understand:
- Your values and what matters to you
- Your preferences for care and medical treatment
- That this is a responsibility they are willing to accept
These conversations aren't always easy, but they are important. They help your attorney understand what you'd want when the time comes.
Express your wishes
To help your attorney make decisions that align with your values, talk to them about:
- 1 Your views on life-prolonging treatment
- 2 Preferences about residential care
- 3 Religious or cultural considerations
- 4 Quality of life considerations
We can help you think through these choices. Call us on 06 835 7394.
What we do at this stage
We explain the different considerations for personal care decisions and help you think through who best understands your values. We can discuss specific scenarios if helpful.